U.N. Grapples With Haiti Losses
As Haiti continues to reel from the devastation wrought by January’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake and near-daily aftershocks, a microcosm of the disaster has played out within the United Nations, which suffered the single-greatest loss of life in the world body’s history when at least 83 members of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) died in the powerful quake that leveled Port-au-Prince.
(For a complete overview of the Haiti disaster, see the cover profile in the current February issue of The Washington Diplomat.)
As of press time, 32 members of the U.N. mission remained unaccounted for. Many victims — including the mission’s two leaders, Hédi Annabi of Tunisia and his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa — were crushed when the U.N. headquarters based in the five-story Christopher Hotel collapsed.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who traveled to Haiti shortly after the quake, said that returning to New York with the bodies of Annabi and da Costa was one of the saddest experiences of his life, but also one of "the most privileged."
"You, yourselves, lost loved ones," Ban said in a message to a memorial service for MINUSTAH staff members. "Yet your thoughts were with those who could yet be saved."
Ban has continually praised the resilience of his staff in the weeks following the disaster. “Despite suffering devastating losses, MINUSTAH troops and police have cleared main roads, removed bodies and conducted patrols with the Haitian National Police, which is gradually recovering from its own losses,” the U.N. secretary-general said.
“Our mission was up and running again within hours of the disaster, despite the fact that some of those working had lost close family members, friends and colleagues,” Ban told people gathered for a mass at New York’s Holy Family Church on Jan. 20 in remembrance of those who died. “We know that the dearest wish of our fallen colleagues is for the United Nations to carry forward the noble mission they have left for us to finish.”
Yet more than two weeks after the earthquake struck, the United Nations is still struggling to get a handle on an overwhelming situation. The sheer numbers are staggering: Estimates of the dead range from 150,000 to 200,000 or more, with tens of thousands buried in mass graves; roughly 1 million people have been displaced, resulting in a plea from the beleaguered Haitian government for 200,000 family-size tents; 2 million people need food; and overall some 3 million Haitians have been severely impacted. In addition to the hundreds of aid workers from all over the world already on the ground, officials say the international donor community needs to be looking at a long-term commitment of 10 years to help the impoverished country recover and rebuild — the right way.
Meanwhile, the United Nations is trying to coordinate a massive — and oftentimes chaotic — relief effort that so far has been largely overseen by the United States, leading to some criticism that the world body was slow to react to the crisis.
But the U.N. has been working aggressively to counter the image that it’s been caught blindsided by the tragedy. “We assembled the best people at headquarters; we dispatched the best people on the ground,” Ban said at a recent luncheon hosted by the U.N. Foundation, though he acknowledged problems in the initial days and the continued “bottleneck” in aid delivery. “You should understand the magnitude, the enormity, of this situation,” he said.
To that end, a joint operations and tasking center — comprised of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, MINUSTAH, the U.S. military and the Canadian military — officially begins work this week. In addition, the 15-nation U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to send 3,500 troops and police to Haiti, boosting the total U.N. troop level to more than 12,500 (though the deployment will take several months).
A $575 million U.N. flash appeal for Haiti launched three days after the quake is nearly 50 percent funded. UNICEF, which is leading the inter-agency effort on water and sanitation, has been helping to distribute safe drinking water to at least 200,000 people per day to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases in Haiti, where only half the population of 9 million had access to clean water in the first place. And the World Food Program (WFP) has distributed food to nearly 500,000 people, though desperate mobs plundering aid sites have interrupted deliveries. Nevertheless, the group hopes to feed 2 million people over the coming weeks.
U.N. agencies are also trying to have school programs up and running in about two weeks to get children off the streets and restore some sense of normalcy.
Equally ambitious is a U.N. Development Program “cash-for-work” scheme that pays citizens $5 a day to remove debris from streets and other reconstruction work. The $40 million initiative aims to have 10,000 participants by the end of the week, with an eye on dramatically expanding the program in the long run.
“This is the most massive urban calamity we have faced in our history and perhaps the most complex,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran after returning from a two-day trip to Haiti earlier this week. “It is the only situation we’ve seen where the humanitarian community there, our own staff, are as affected as the population,” she added, noting stories of heroism such as the father whose son was killed but within 24 hours was helping to deliver food.
On that front, the United Nations has highlighted stories of personal valor among its own cadre, such as Canadian David Wimhurst, who survived the collapse of the U.N. headquarters, got his whole team out of a third-story window, and went to work the next day to get the U.N. information center up and running. Or Logan Abassi, a U.N. photographer who helped alert search-and-rescue teams to a Haitian man trapped under a phone company building.
Perhaps one of the most amazing stories was of the U.N. aid worker who was rescued Jan. 17 after being buried alive without food or water for five days. Jens Kristensen, a 48-year-old Danish national, said he felt like he was living in a coffin — enclosed in a five-foot long space so dark that it made no difference if his eyes were open or closed.
 Three days after being rescued, Kristensen was back at work as a senior humanitarian officer coordinating the relief effort. “If you see the devastation in Haiti at the moment, it is enormous. I cannot just evacuate. I feel physically sore after five days on a concrete slab but mentally I am strong enough to do it. And certainly at a time when the country needs so much assistance,” he told the U.N. News Centre.
When the earthquake hit, Kristensen was in his office on the third floor of the Christopher Hotel. “I debated in a split second whether to run for the door or hide under the table. The door was closed and I thought that maybe it was too far and I would be caught under falling debris, so I hid under the table,” he recalled, noting that a bookshelf fell toward the desk, preventing him and the desk from being crushed.
In the days that followed during the aftershocks, he scrunched under the desk, hoping that the roof would not suddenly give in. When quiet, he used the light from his mobile phone to look for any resources he might have to survive.
All he found though were a jar of instant coffee and an envelope. He saved the coffee in the envelope and his urine in the jar. “It doesn’t taste or smell particularly well but it could have prolonged my survival by a couple of days.”
Kristensen explained that he focused his attention on attracting help to remain calm, although keeping track of time began playing tricks on his mind. "You lose your perception. You don’t know if you slept five minutes or five hours. It is difficult to remain sane and calm when you don’t know the day and time,” he said.
“I wondered how long it takes to die and what a horrible way to die,” he mused. “If you have an accident, at least you die quickly. Here you have days and days and days on end. What a horrible end.”
Finally, Kristensen heard muffled voices some 12 feet above where he was buried. “I almost thought no, I’m too tired to bang and shout. I could feel that it was more of an effort, but I thought — you have to take every single chance. It doesn’t matter how many times it didn’t work. This could be the once chance and it would be really, really stupid if you don’t do it.”
Six hours later, he was pulled from the wreckage. “It was so amazing. I cannot explain it. It really was like I had received a second birthday,” he recounted, laughing. “I am eternally grateful and in awe of the search teams who drop everything at an hour’s notice and go to faraway places and put themselves in danger to save people.”
Kristensen is among at least 135 people who have been rescued, the most recent being Darlene Etienne, a teenage girl found alive after 15 days of being buried in rubble. The discovery of the girl, who is in stable condition, was described as a “miracle” by aid workers and offered a rare glimmer of good news amid the sorrow.
Secretary-General Ban praised the international response that has helped make such rescues possible, pointing out that “seldom in the face of such a disaster has the international community acted in such solidarity, nor so quickly in the face of so many difficulties.”
Once all of the fallen U.N. personnel have been recovered in Haiti, a memorial service will be held in New York, where their names will be read aloud. Ban told his fellow MINUSTAH staff members working on the ground in Haiti that "we are with you in spirit. To those no longer with us, I say: We will never forget you."
Top photo, an engineer with the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) holds an official portrait of Hédi Annabi, head of U.N. mission in Haiti — who died in January’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake — against the backdrop of the U.N. headquarters in ruins.
Photo: UN Photo/Sophia Paris
Bottom photo, a U.S. search and rescue team carries U.N. staff member Jens Kristensen into an ambulance in Port-au-Prince. The team recovered Kristensen from under the rubble of the U.N. Haiti mission’s headquarters five days after a deadly earthquake caused the building to collapse.
Photo: UN Photo/Marco Dormino
Front page, Brazilian peacekeepers from the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti join U.S. soldiers to distribute food and water in Cité Soleil, Haiti.
Photo: UN Photo/Sophia Paris
U.S. Envoys to Andes Talk About Relations
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch contributed by Larry Luxner
South America’s five Andean nations — Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela — are among the most politically volatile in the Western Hemisphere.
On Jan. 22, the U.S. ambassadors to four of those countries (excluding Bolivia) discussed current events at a conference co-sponsored by Inter-American Dialogue and the Brookings Institution. The event was moderated by Michael Shifter, president of Inter-American Dialogue, and brought together veteran diplomats William Brownfield (Colombia), Heather Hodges (Ecuador), Michael McKinley (Peru) and Patrick Duddy (Venezuela).
In addition, Carmen Lomellin, Washington’s permanent representative to the Organization of American States, sat in on the panel discussion, which was attended by more than 200 people held at the University of California Washington Center.
 Duddy — declared persona non grata by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in August 2008 and then cautiously welcomed back to his post in Caracas after the Obama administration had taken office — joked that he’s become the answer to a very obscure Trivial Pursuit question.
“I am apparently the first U.S. ambassador to ever return to a post from which he or she had been expelled,” he said, noting that he and Philip Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, were kicked out simultaneously, following allegations of U.S. meddling in internal Bolivian politics, but that the United States and Bolivia have not restored full relations yet.
Duddy called the White House’s decision to repair damaged relations with Venezuela unprecedented in American history. “The Obama administration decided that we would re-establish relations at the ambassadorial level, following which Ambassador [Bernardo] Alvarez returned here, and I returned to Caracas.”
Since then, however, Duddy says relations between the two countries “continues to be very, very difficult,” to put it mildly. “President Chávez has a tendency to characterize the United States as not only the empire but also now as the enemy,” he said. Even so, the United States remains one of Venezuela’s largest trading partners, with bilateral trade in 2008 exceeding $60 billion, “which constitutes pretty serious money.”
The numbers for 2009 will almost certainly be around $20 billion lower, Duddy added, “but that’s a consequence of the fall in oil prices.” He also noted that “there’s recently been a devaluation which will doubtlessly push inflation up, while making imports from the U.S. and elsewhere more expensive. Purchasing power for average citizens will be eroded still further. So it’s a difficult environment and very politically charged.”
Pointing out that people tend to vote with their feet, Duddy says that despite the anti-American rhetoric so prevalent in the state-controlled media these days, more Venezuelans than ever before are looking to immigrate to the United States — a likely consequence of the worsening economy, rising crime and shrinking civil liberties under Chávez.
“The volume of business in our consulate is quite extraordinary,” Duddy said. “We interview between 650 and 750 non-resident visa applicants every day of the week, and we have an 11-month waiting list.”
Ecuador’s Rafael Correa is a protégé of Chávez, but his criticism of the United States has not been as venomous. Hodges, the U.S. ambassador to Ecuador, said “there have been ups and downs” regarding Washington’s relations with the government of Correa, who was easily re-elected last April despite Ecuador’s economic difficulties.
 Since then, however, Hodges pointed out that Correa’s approval rating has dropped from 70 percent to around 50 percent in the wake of “rolling blackouts which are very costly on a day-to-day basis” — and that Ecuador has moved much closer to “non-traditional allies” like Iran, Russia, China and Syria.
“A year ago, last February, President Correa kicked out two employees of the U.S. Embassy,” she noted, calling the incident a misunderstanding. “But we were able to negotiate an agreement and get back to where we were.”
Another low point was the Correa government’s decision to close a military base at Manta, along the Pacific coast, that the United States had used for 10 years to monitor illegal cocaine trafficking in northwestern South America. The lease, signed in 1999, had allowed the U.S. Southern Command to station up to 475 military personnel at Manta, rent-free. Until July 2009, aircraft at the base had flown around 100 missions a month looking for drug-running boats departing Colombia.
In April 2009, Ambassador Brownfield announced that counter-narcotics operations would be relocated from Manta to somewhere in Colombia; the Pentagon is currently negotiating to use Colombia’s Palanquero air base in Puerto Salgar as Manta’s replacement.
Still, Hodges says there are bright spots in U.S.-Ecuadorian relations. “When it comes to counter-narcotics, cooperation between the United States and Ecuador is superb,” she said. “Last year was a banner year — something like 43.2 million tons of cocaine seized, in water and on land. It was quite a record.”
Hodges singled out for praise the recent renewal of the U.S. Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), which helps Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru fight drug trafficking by expanding economic alternatives to cocaine production.
“Both sides were pleased when ATPA was renewed. I think this is a very important way in which the United States helps reduce poverty in Ecuador, providing jobs — especially for women in the flower industry,” she explained. “Last year, we gave Ecuador approximately $60 million in assistance. Of that, only a fourth goes into counter-narcotics. The rest of it is in areas in which we fully agree.”
 Brownfield, who has been the U.S. ambassador in Bogotá since August 2007, gave Colombian President Alvaro Uribe high marks for restoring confidence in his country, which during the early 1990s was synonymous with drug cartels and murderous violence.
“We continually look and assess the U.S.-Colombia bilateral relationship over the last 10 years in terms of things that are still not working right. We talk about how much coca is still being cultivated, how much cocaine is still being produced, how many human rights abuses we see. All these are fair, correct and proper issues to address. They tell us where we should be focusing our efforts now. But they do not tell, in my humble opinion, the totality of the story,” he said.
“My fundamental argument is that on every measurable criteria — whether it is politics, economy, commerce, foreign investment, human rights, drugs, law enforcement or security — Colombia is a better place today than it was 10 years ago,” said Brownfield. “This is thanks largely to the efforts of the Colombian people and their elected government, and the support we have provided under Plan Colombia.”
Asked about FARC — the Spanish acronym for Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces — Brownfield didn’t mince words.
“FARC is on a number of lists of foreign terrorist organizations for a reason. It is a terrorist organization, it kidnaps, it murders, it produces illicit drugs and engages in widespread criminal activities,” he said. “FARC is an organization that should trouble everyone in the Americas.”
But many in the Americas have also been troubled by the growing military ties between Colombia and the United States. In response to a question about the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) signed last October between the U.S. and Colombian governments, Brownfield justified the agreement itself but conceded that “the rollout could have been vastly improved.”
“The reaction by at least one government was absolutely assured and unavoidable,” he said, in a not-so-subtle reference to Venezuela’s Chávez. “As sure as the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, the neighboring country whose capital is Caracas criticized the DCA.”
Brownfield argues though that the bilateral pact has been widely misunderstood — and therefore attempted to set the record straight. “Number one, the DCA does not create any new rights, privileges or immunities. Two, it does not create any U.S. bases at all. Three, it does not envision any new activities,” he said. “Four, it does not, in any way, represent a threat to the sovereignty of any other country in the world, and five, I do not contemplate any increased U.S. military presence in Colombia.”
 The last of the four U.S. ambassadors to speak was McKinley, who warmly praised Peru for its response to the ongoing global financial crisis.
“Peru continues to make significant strides,” he said, especially when compared with the country’s Andean neighbors. “It stands out in terms of generating a positive rate of growth, but also for its smart strategy of public investment, responsible macro-economic management and a continued focus on extending social spending. The statistics speak for themselves — a doubling of per-capita income in the last 10 years, and poverty dropping from 54 percent of the population to perhaps 35 percent this year.”
McKinley also noted that “Peru is emerging from a turbulent period in its history and moving toward democratically elected governments.” In fact, the next election is scheduled for April 2011, and 85 percent of the voting-age public supports centrist candidates.”
He added that bilateral relations are quite positive and “have centered on three issues: institution-building and consolidation of democracy; free trade, and working with Peru on drug-trafficking and counter-terrorism. Peru has finally graduated to lower-middle-income status, but with a per-capita GDP of only $4,000 a year, there’s still a tremendous amount of work to do.”
From top photo to bottom, U.S. Ambassadors Patrick Duddy of Venezuela, Heather Hodges of Ecuador, William Brownfield of Colombia, and Michael McKinley of Peru talk about U.S. relations with their respective Andean nations at a discussion hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Brookings Institution.
Photos: Larry Luxner
Peace Corps Marks 50 Years
Question: What do Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill, and television host Chris Matthews have in common — other than their first names?
Answer: They all served in the Peace Corps — Dodd in the Dominican Republic (1966-68), Hill in Cameroon (1974-76) and Matthews in Swaziland (1968-70).
They are also part of a diverse cadre of former Peace Corps volunteers who now work in the top echelons of government, business and other fields — a group in fact of nearly 200,000 volunteers who have served in 139 host countries since the inception of the corps in 1960, when then-Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries.
Today, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Peace Corps continues to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology to environmental preservation, while ushering in what many hope will be a resurgence of volunteerism and service under President Barack Obama.
 To that end, the Peace Corps recently welcomed its new leader, Aaron S. Williams, who was sworn in as the 18th director of the corps this past summer. Williams — a former volunteer who served in the Dominican Republic before returning to his hometown of Chicago — calls the posting “a dream job.” He met with all 75 country directors in the first three months on the job, in addition to traveling to the Dominican Republic, Thailand, South Africa and Nicaragua.
Williams joined other prominent Peace Corps alumni and members of the diplomatic community on Dec. 8 at the Meridian International Center to talk about what lies ahead for one of America’s most recognized international service organizations.
“Our time is once again now…. We have the wind beneath our sails with this new administration,” Williams declared to the audience — which included various ambassadors from nations where the Peace Corps has a presence, such as Jamaica, Macedonia, Mali and Zambia, among others.
 President Obama has said he’d like to double the Peace Corps, whose budget for the 2010 fiscal year is the largest it has ever been — $400 million, an increase of $60 million over the 2009 budget. But Williams pointed out that the corps is still vastly under-resourced given its ambitious mandate to volunteer around the world — and the overwhelming demand to fulfill that mandate.
He noted that the Peace Corps recently fielded 15,000 applications for only 4,000 positions. “Obviously we need the resources to grow,” he said, lamenting that the U.S. military’s marching and music bands often received more resources than the entire Peace Corps.
Currently, there are more than 7,600 corps volunteers and trainees spread out over 76 countries, working in areas such as education, health, agriculture and food scarcity, HIV/AIDS, the environment, at-risk youth and community outreach, and business and communication technology. And as development needs have changed over the years, so has the work of the Peace Corps.
 For example, Williams noted that volunteers in Namibia recently established a comprehensive health referral system using SMS — i.e. cell phone text — technology. Other high-tech projects include teaching basic computer literacy skills (such as word-processing and webpage development) and introducing host communities to e-commerce, distance learning and geographic information systems.
“We share America’s most important resource: our people and their skills,” said Williams.
U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), who served as a volunteer in Colombia from 1964 to 1966, agreed that the Peace Corps is an unparalleled grassroots organization whose work produces far-reaching dividends in promoting a better understanding of America all over the world — thereby performing a crucial role in today’s U.S. foreign policy.
“Every dialogue we’re involved in,” Farr pointed out, “whether on climate change, terrorism etc.… comes down to you’ve got to build up the village, the schools, the infrastructure, the water etc.,” he said. “We’ve been doing that for more than 50 years.”
Farr also told the Meridian audience that “there is no better moment to double the Peace Corps,” noting that if John F. Kennedy’s original goal of having 100,000 volunteers in place in 1961 had been met, serving for instance in hotspots such as Afghanistan back then, “would we have the problems we are having today?”
Top photo from left, Aaron S. Williams, who was sworn in as the 18th director of the Peace Corps last summer, joins Meridian International Center President Stuart Holliday, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), US. Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), both Peace Corps alumni, and Chairman of the Meridian Board of Trustees James Blanchard at a reception honoring Williams held at the Meridian International Center.
Middle photo, Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams, left, talks with former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios at the Meridian reception. Also in attendance were ambassadors from nations where the Peace Corps has a presence, including, bottom photo from left, Ambassador of Macedonia and Mrs. Zoran Jolevski, and Ambassador of Jamaica Anthony Smith Rowe Johnson, as well as Ambassador of Zambia Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, pictured on the front page.
Politically Charged Chinese Events Compete for Attention
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch contributed by Larry Luxner
 Zhou Wenzhong, China’s ambassador to the United States, beamed with obvious pride as he introduced classical pianist Di Wu onstage.
The event, held Jan. 16, was the first concert ever held in the sprawling new Chinese Embassy — the largest foreign mission in Washington. Co-sponsored by Jerome Barry’s Embassy Series, the occasion was marked by the presence of at least 325 diplomats, dignitaries, business leaders and other guests invited to celebrate Sino-American relations.
Before Wu played her first note, however, Zhou called for a moment of silence to remember the 200,000 victims of Haiti’s earthquake, which had struck four days earlier. He then told his guests that China was “doing everything possible” to provide emergency food, water and relief supplies to Haiti — which curiously is one of the few countries China doesn’t recognize, due to Haiti’s long-standing relations with Taiwan.
 Yet Zhou diplomatically ignored the little irony, and attention soon turned to Wu — a talented musician who made her professional debut at 14 with the Beijing Philharmonic and came to the United States in 1999. Praised in the Wall Street Journal as “a most mature and sensitive pianist,” Wu ‘s reputation as an elegant yet exciting musician continues to grow.
Winner of a coveted prize at last year’s 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Wu has toured widely throughout Asia, Europe and North America. During the 2009-10 season, she’s scheduled for a 40-concert tour that’s taking her from California to Germany.
At the Chinese Embassy concert, she made the Steinway D grand piano come alive (the Steinway & Sons Piano Gallery at Virginia’s Tysons Corner Center was one of the evening’s chief corporate patrons).
Wu opened with Clara Schumann’s Mazurka, then launched right into “Davidsbündlertãnze” (loosely translated as “Dances for King David’s Motley Crew”) by Clara Schumann’s famous husband, the German composer Robert Schumann.
After intermission, Wu played “Miroirs” by French composer Maurice Ravel and concluded with “Paraphrase on a Waltz” from Franz Liszt’s popular opera Gounod’s “Faust.”
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Only three days after Wu’s concert at the Chinese Embassy, the Kennedy Center kicked off a musical and dance extravaganza showcasing 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture. But this time, Ambassador Zhou was nowhere in sight.
The show by Shen Yun Performing Arts — which ran from Jan. 19 to Jan. 24 — is blatantly anti-communist and, to be perfectly frank, puts the modern-day People’s Republic of China in a horrible light.
 Its program includes dazzlingly choreographed routines with titles such as “Mongolian Hospitality,” “Fairies of the Clouds” and “Tibetan Dance of Praise.”
Emceed by Jared Madsen and Kelly Wen — who engaged in lighthearted bilingual banter, he in English, she in Chinese — the colorful program covers the entire spectrum of Chinese history from the Shang dynasty of 1500 B.C. to the communist revolution of 1949, and life in present-day China.
This month’s run at the Kennedy Center marked the third appearance of what its promoters call “a brilliant blend of beauty, energy, serenity and grace” in less than a year. The January performance is part of Shen Yun’s 2010 World Tour, which will take it to 100 cities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Virtually all the performers in the company (formerly called Divine Performing Arts) are members of Falun Gong, a form of self-cultivation also known as Falun Dafa, whose practitioners regularly exercise in public parks and periodically stage protests condemning their persecution by Chinese authorities.
As such, it’s hardly surprising that the group was forced to cancel seven shows in Hong Kong after authorities denied certain members of the Shen Yun production staff visas at the last minute. According to the group’s Web site, “The Chinese communist regime has been seeking to interfere with our performances for years by trying to pressure officials and theaters to cancel our shows,” it charged. “We regret that the Hong Kong people are denied their right to see Shen Yun Performing Arts and understand that this incident constitutes a violation of Hong Kong people’s freedom. We hope the people of Hong Kong who treasure their freedom will urge the Hong Kong government to undo this mistake.”
One thing’s for certain, Shen Yun’s message — and politics — are not exactly subtle. At one point during the D.C. performance, baritone Qu Yue sung “A Message to the World,” whose verses translate as follows: “Stepping into this mundane world, one assumes a human body / centuries of reincarnation, awaiting the Lord / Painful it was to await the sacred day / But the will held firm / Quietly I watch this turbulent world / as the Red Regime sinks.”
But wait, it gets even more graphic.
In “Nothing Can Block the Divine Path,” choreographed by Michelle Ren with music by Junyi Tan, a peace-loving mother and daughter are minding their own business, doing Falun Dafa exercises in a park, when masked policemen wearing huge hammer-and-sickle emblems on the backs of their black trench coats beat the helpless women with nightsticks, then drag them to a detention center where the mother is tortured to death.
However, as the program notes point out, “this tragedy does not go unnoticed, as the heavens are watching” and the family is rewarded with eternal happiness in paradise.
Ambassador Zhou and his colleagues are not amused in the least. The Chinese Embassy Web site calls the Kennedy Center performance nothing but cult propaganda characterized by “tacky taste and low artistic standards.”
“Clearly, the so-called Divine Spectaculars is not a cultural performance at all, but a political tool of Falun Gong to preach cult messages, spread anti-China propaganda, increase its own influence and raise funds,” it says. “It blasphemizes and distorts Chinese culture, and deceives, fools and poisons the audience.”
The Web site also urges potential concertgoers to “kindly stay away from this so-called Divine Spectacular so as not to be misled and taken advantage of.”
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It’s a pretty safe bet that Ambassador Zhou — who finishes his tour of duty here next month — will also skip two local performances by the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, especially since Taiwanese first lady Chow Mei-ching, honorary director of the dance troupe, is scheduled to make an appearance after the show during a visit to Washington (minus her husband, who is traveling this week on a five-day visit to Central America and the Caribbean).
“Moon Water,” scheduled for Jan. 29 and 30 at the Kennedy Center, is sponsored by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwan’s equivalent of an embassy here. According to legend, Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance in China, a ritual that dates back 5,000 years. The title of the show, “Moon Water,” refers to the Buddhist proverb: “Flowers in a mirror and moon on the water are both illusory.”
Cloud Gate (pictured on the front page) was established by Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai-min in 1973. It is world-renowned for its sophisticated blend of traditional Asian mythology and folklore with modern sensibility and contemporary dance technique. The troupe has earned global acclaim, with the Berlin Ballet International describing it as “not only on par with the modern dance companies of the Old World and the new, but perhaps even beyond.”
So far, the Chinese Embassy Web site hasn’t said a word about “Moon Water.” But given Cloud Gate’s reputation as Taiwan’s premier contemporary dance company in light of 60 years of tensions between mainland China and Taiwan — which Beijing sees as a breakaway province — the Pouch doubts the ambassador would give “Moon Water” rave reviews.
And despite the tai chi-inspired serenity of “Moon Water,” which features dancers in white billowy costumes, the politically tinged atmosphere behind the peaceful movements is anything but serene.
In fact, “Legacy,” Cloud Gate’s first full-length production, portrayed families that had left mainland China and immigrated to Taiwan more than 400 years ago. According to one reviewer, “this siding with Taiwan was continued in 1997” with “Portrait of the Families,” which was aesthetically a declaration of independence through the use of modern dance.
“On a screen serving as a backdrop for dancers, there was a range of interviews leading from the Japanese colonization 100 years earlier to the massacre of islanders by the Kuomintang troops which had fled from Mao to the island in 1947,” said the review, noting that a 1990 performance reacted to the massacre on Tiananmen Square.
“Moon Water” though, set on a black stage with white brush strokes reminiscent of ripples, will probably be more meditative than political — perhaps an appropriate shift in tone given the improving ties between China and Taiwan.
For more information, visit the troupe’s Web site at www.cloudgate.org.tw.
Top photo from left, Daniel Forrester, Chairman of the Embassy Series Board of Directors Ian K. Portnoy, Ambassador of China Zhou Wenzhong, and Artistic Director of the Embassy Series Jerome Barry attend a concert by pianist Di Wu, below, hosted by the Embassy Series at the Chinese Embassy.
Bottom photo, a very different Chinese performance took place when the Shen Yun Performing Arts took the stage at the Kennedy Center in a show clearly aimed against the Chinese communist government.
Photo: 2009 Shen Yun Performing Arts
A Taste of Cartagena
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch contributed by Larry Luxner
Quail egg with banana-passion fruit. Heart of palm soup. Braised snapper and coconut rice. Mongo-mongo cheesecake with yucca crust — not your usual D.C. diplomatic dining experience.
Then again, Catalina Vélez isn’t your usual chef.
 Flown up to Washington specifically for the occasion, Vélez, 32, is considered one of Colombia’s top up-and-coming experts on regional and national cuisine.
On Dec. 9, she joined Terri Cutrino, head chef at Café Atlántico, to create an innovative four-course menu with wine pairings provided by the restaurant’s beverage manager and sommelier, Jill Zimorski.
The lavish event — co-sponsored by the Embassy of Colombia and the Cartagena Bureau of Tourism — was aimed at promoting tourism to Cartagena, a charming colonial city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. It attracted more than 70 guests, most of whom paid $85 each, and put the spotlight on Café Atlántico, itself a Washington institution that in late December celebrated its 20th anniversary in business.
“In one day, we were sold out, and 30 people were left on the waiting list,” Vélez told us during an interview in the restaurant’s kitchen, in between preparing the meal’s first and second courses. “I thank Washington so much for giving me an opportunity to show who we are.”
Born in the Colombian city of Pereira, Vélez was something of a child prodigy. She began studying business at age 15 and finished when she was 20. Vélez went on graduate from the Culinary Art Institute of Atlanta. She’s also lived in Denver and in Austin, Texas.
“I’m a promoter of Colombian cuisine, or cocina de origen. I work with communities across the country to create cooperatives so that people will have a better way of life,” Vélez explained, noting that she’s also done promotional work for the Colombian government in Argentina, Peru and Japan.
“We are just starting to show a different identity to the world,” the aspiring chef told us, adding that she’s tired of people associating Colombia with its past image of violence, kidnappings and drug cartels. “We have many cultural expressions, and cuisine is one of them. We’re trying to put it all together.”
Vélez owns two restaurants — Luna Lounge and Kiva — in the city of Cali. Both restaurants are supplied with her own grains and fruits, which she later incorporates into such dishes as el arazá, el camu camu and quinua. Vélez also hosts two TV shows in Bogotá, “Origenes con Catalina Vélez” and “Cocinando Ando,” which teach people how to use local ingredients in their cooking.
As diners enjoyed their dessert — mongo-mongo cheesecake served with 100 percent Colombian coffee — Luís Araujo, director of the Cartagena Bureau of Tourism, extolled the virtues of his city of more than 1 million people.
“Cartagena is a wonderful place because it touches and caresses every one of your senses. I promise that when you go to Cartagena, you will feel the love our city has for its visitors,” Araujo said, adding that the 477-year-old town — which in 1984 was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is enjoying a tourism renaissance at the moment.
“While tourism has fallen an average of 9 percent worldwide in 2009, in Colombia it has gone up 8 percent,” he told the Diplomatic Pouch. “Some 90 percent of passengers who come to Cartagena get off to tour the city. That compares to only 50 percent on average for the rest of the Caribbean.”
Araujo, noting that the State Department no longer advises U.S. citizens to avoid Cartagena, said visitors are completely safe there. The tourism official, who’s worked in Bogotá, Madrid and Washington, D.C., conceded that “it took 10 years of living outside Cartagena for me to really appreciate the value this city has.”
Noted Colombian chef Catalina Vélez prepares delicacies of her own creation at Café Atlántico's special dinner Dec. 9 to celebrate the flavors of Colombia.
Photo: Larry Luxner
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